


Cannibalism and Parenting

by DefinitelyNotBees



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, Canon Era, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Harry Potter, Eventual Fluff, Gen, Hungry Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Past Child Abuse, Protective Eddie Brock, Protective Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Some Humor, Vernon Dursley's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21971773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefinitelyNotBees/pseuds/DefinitelyNotBees
Summary: This is the Eddie-is-Harry’s-New-Dad fic you didn’t know you needed. Within it, Vernon Dursley dies horribly because Mrs Rowling so cruelly deprived us of that wonderful outcome. Also, Harry is a cute little kid, which is unmissable. Enjoy!
Comments: 20
Kudos: 170
Collections: Harry Potter, Venom





	Cannibalism and Parenting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darkoraclegirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkoraclegirl/gifts).



Eddie pulls up outside number four Privet Drive. The neighbourhood is nice; nothing too remarkable. He rings the doorbell and the door is opened by a man who looks like a walrus. This would be Vernon Dursley.

Dursley takes one look at his jeans and fitted sweater and sneers. Eddie dislikes him immediately.

“Hey, Mr Dursley, I’m Eddie. Eddie Brock,” Eddie says brightly. The blank looks he receives prompt him to speak again. “I’m interviewing you about your role in the largest deal your company has ever seen.” He continues, buttering the man up to potentially pry more information from him later. The man nods but says nothing. His nose crumples as though he smelled something foul. Venom bristles. 

Eddie is going to have to invite himself in. 

He does. A very skinny woman, presumably Vernon’s wife, steps back hastily. Vernon continues to block the doorway, only backing away when he sees Eddie is intent on making his way into the house. A fairly chubby child steps towards him. His mother throws a hand like an iron bar across his chest, forbidding him from going any closer. Venom loves children - especially after they’d recently thought about having one of their own - and is more than a little annoyed when the twiggy lady won’t let him near the child. 

The child darts upstairs and fills the house with the noise of what sounds like a TV. The party make their way to a dining room. 

“Take a seat, Mr…” Dursley says coldly.

“Brock,” Eddie finishes, maintaining a level of professionalism. He takes a seat with a smile. A heavy silence fills the room. 

“So, Mr Dursley,” Eddie says. Then he panics. For the first time in his life, he hasn’t a clue what to say. 

**Ask them about their son,** Venom suggests internally. Eddie does, sending a quick thanks Venom’s way. 

Evidently this was the right move to make.

Pride rolls off the Dursleys in waves. Even the wife, who is the definition of meekness itself, chimes in to brag about her pride and joy. Inside Eddie’s head, Venom is very vocal about his ever-improving skills in human conversation. He prompts Eddie to praise him as often as possible for his timely suggestion. 

Eventually, Venom’s patience wears thin. **He looks like a pig,** Venom muses. **Can we eat him?** He asks brightly. Eddie’s poker face, honed through many similar encounters, doesn’t let his amusement slip. He doesn’t say a word, terrified of what might come out. 

Dursley eventually picks up on Eddie’s continued silence. His moustache twitches. 

He waves his wife off to serve the meal. Eddie wonders if this dynamic between them has anything to do with the lady’s lack of voice.

The conversation comes to another standstill. Eddie sighs internally. It looks like it’s time to ask the dull-as-ditchwater questions his boss wrote for him.

It’s dreary. This Vernon chap seems awfully proud of himself for landing his company a £20 million deal. _Helping_ to secure the deal, Eddie corrects himself: from the shaky and roundabout answers to Eddie’s simple questions, he is having doubts as to how big a role the man even played. Either way, it’s dry as shit, and Venom is growing impatient. Eddie needs a break. 

He stands up, excuses himself, and asks where the toilet is. Dursley exchanges a nervous glance with his wife. 

“It’s the first on your left, just down the hall,” he says, his piggy eyes squinting suspiciously. Weird. Eddie leaves the room.

 **Eddieeee, this is so boring,** Venom complains. **Really want to eat him. Not the stick lady, too bony, just him. Can we, Eddie? No one would know.**

“Wouldn’t his wife know?” Eddie says gently. “And his son?”

 **Sons.** Venom says. Smugness rolls through the bond.

“What?”

 **There’s another one under there.** Venom indicates the cupboard under the stairs. **Anyway, so what if they know? We can easily-** Eddie cuts him off. 

“There’s a _child_ in there? It’s locked,” Eddie hisses, outraged.

**We lock ourselves in rooms all the time, Eddie.**

“That’s the point. _We_ look us in! This lock is on the outside, V!” He says, panic creeping into his voice. He feels Venom’s presence recede in his mind.

 **Didn’t need to get angry with me, Eddie,** Venom says sadly. **Done nothing wrong.** Eddie mutters a quick sorry to Venom before his curiosity and compassion force him to gently slide back the lock. 

A child gasps.

“I’m sorry Mr Sir, I didn’t make noise-”

The boy stops short when he sees Eddie. Eddie smiles.

“Hi, I’m Eddie,” he says. He is about to introduce himself as a friend of the boy’s Dad when the implications of the child’s words suddenly register.

‘Mr Sir’? ‘He didn’t make a noise’? Between that and the lock on the door, something isn’t right. 

The boy waits a minute before speaking quietly: “I’m Harry.”

“Hey Harry, how old are you?” Eddie says, keeping his sinking feelings about Harry’s situation strictly inside his head.

“Four. No, five!” Harry says excitedly. 

“Hey that’s so cool, when was your birthday?” Eddie asks. Harry looks puzzled. Eddie then sees how the boy’s jumper hangs off his small frame. The kid looked four at most.

Eddie’s smile slips a little.

 **Eddie, Fat Man is getting up,** Venom warns. Eddie jumps. 

“I’ll be back in a minute, okay Harry?” Harry nods. Eddie’s heart sinks at having to leave the child in the darkness again.

Eddie reenters the dining room, a fake smile plastered across his face. The duo makes no move to say anything and Eddie knows he’ll have to carry the conversation once again. Sigh.

Suddenly Vernon speaks up: “We were just saying how funny it was that we didn’t hear anyone washing their hands. Did you wash your hands, Eddie?” He says nastily.

“Mr Brock, thanks,” Eddie says icily. “What an odd question.” Then the kindness drops in one fell swoop from his face. “On the topic of odd questions, why do you have a child locked in a cupboard?”

You could hear a pin drop. 

Dursley stands and puffs out his considerable gut. “How dare you make such accusations, you insolent little man!” Spittle sprays the room and the man’s chins quiver with rage.

Eddie laughs. There has been many a time where people took none-too-kindly to his invasive questioning: he’s an old hand. This is nothing. He stands too, using Venom to boost his height under the table. Dursley’s eyes widen and his wife edges behind him. Then Eddie decides, fuck it, and lets Venom take over.

The sickening sound of the peeling of skin from flesh fills the room: they are transforming slowly to maximise fear. Black ooze surrounds their body. They grow and grow until their head skims the ceiling. Finally, Venom’s teeth snap into place with a crunch. He grins. Mrs Dursley passes clean out and lands with a thud on the floor. Vernon doesn’t even spare her a glance. 

Eddie truly hates this despicable man.

As much as he loves inspiring terror, he still needs to ask the guy some questions. Venom, however, is an ‘Eat first, ask questions later’ kind of guy. After a quick internal debate, they roll back part of the face so Eddie can speak. 

“I’m going to ask you this once. Depending on your answer, I might not eat you,” Eddie lies. Venom rears his head in protest before Eddie mentally assures him that yes, they are going to eat this despicable man. 

“I… I… what child? There's only one boy in this household,” he stammers. Dursley’s first mistake - Eddie asked about a child, not specifically a boy. 

In the blink of an eye, Venom transports them so they tower over the man. 

**Not good enough, Pig Man,** Venom rumbles. He slaps the man’s face impatiently. The sooner he answers, the sooner they eat! Venom starts to drool - he loves heads. He licks his formidable teeth. Dursley whimpers. 

Eddie speaks again, this time more menacing. “Why’s he in the cupboard, Dursley? And stop lying, we can smell him.” 

The man looks like he’s frantically running through excuses. Impulsively, Venom licks a stripe up the man’s face. 

**Sorry Eddie, couldn’t wait.** Venom says through their bond. 

Dursley cracks.

“You’re one of his sort aren’t you?” He whispers conspiratorially. Eddie is bemused but nods along anyway. Dursley sags. 

“He’s not mine, don’t you dare tar me and my family with the same brush! He was left here when his nasty wizard parents died with a letter spouting some nonsense about him only being safe from some maniac in this house. Safe because of his mother’s love, no less! I ask you,” he spits.

Venom had gotten lost when the prey had mentioned tar on brushes so he had started picking his teeth. The long, sharp ones, not Eddie’s little cute ones. Eddie had been content to let Dursley ramble, certain the length of his response was at least partially down to Venom’s innocent cleaning of his teeth.

So. That cleared a lot up but it also raised questions. Wizards? Protection on the house?

“Good man,” Eddie smiles widely. It's not his fault that came across so menacing. 

“Little Harry is only safe in this house, then, because of his mother's love?” Dursley nodded furiously, his many chins wobbling. 

“Apparently she ‘died to save him,’” sneers Dursley, hoping to have found a fellow sceptic of all things magic. Eddie nods along, encouraging him. The poor man seemed to be off his head.

“We never liked them. Filthy wizards, they were. And their spawn - unnatural things are always happening around him. That’s why we don’t feed him-” Dursley shuts his mouth abruptly, a look of terror spreading across his face. 

Eddie loses his mind. You don’t starve people, let alone children. The cruelty is too much: this man cannot be allowed to live. 

Venom’s inner pleading wins out. Their jaw stretches to a preposterous width as they approach Dursley, who lets out a hoarse yell. They bite Dursley’s head clean off. Truth be told, there isn’t much ‘clean’ about it: blood spurts from several severed arteries as the corpse falls to the floor. The crunch that splits his skull into bits is music to their ears. They close their eyes and savour the brain on its way to their stomach.

Venom takes a meaty chunk out of a leg and chews it slowly. Happiness radiates through their bond from both sides. Usually, only Venom gets any pleasure from human meals. This time, Eddie isn’t even inundated with his usual thoughts about cannibalism. He rips into the corpse with as much vigour as Venom. 

When they finally finish, there’s only a blood-soaked pile of clothes. Mrs Dursley is still out cold on the floor.

Oh God, the floor. They are sitting in a pool of blood. 

Thank heavens the floor wasn't carpeted or they’d never get rid of it. 

They drag Mrs Dursley, mercifully free of blood, through to the living room. They leave her in a chair - they aren’t monsters. 

They return quickly to the dining room and assess the damage. This is going to require some work before they can even start thinking about Harry. 

Many blood-soaked dish rags later, the dining room is free of blood and gristle. Eddie doesn’t know what to do with the clothes, should he wash them or bin them? 

**Burn them,** Venom growls. Eddie blinks. 

“Fair enough,” he says. They light a fire using coal and throw the clothes in. They sit on the floor and watch the clothes wither and turn into clumps of ash. It’s a lovely sight. 

Suddenly Eddie bolts upright. 

“Harry! We forgot to get Harry,” he says as he rushes over to the cupboard. “I’m a terrible person, I’m a terrible person…” he chants in his head as he pulls back the lock. 

Harry blinks at the sudden light. Then his little face breaks out in a grin.

“Hi Eddie!” 

Eddie nearly weeps. “Hiya, Harry! D’you wanna come out now? The big mean man is gone now.” 

Harry scoots off of his little bed and stands up. “He’s gone? Did you do that?” 

Eddie crouches down to his height and nods solemnly. “Yes. Me and him had a little talk and we thought it would be better for you if I stayed here instead of him,” he says smoothly. 

“Cool!” Harry says. “I can show you all my toys!” 

Eddie nods and smiles again. Harry turns around and pulls out several toys just about fit for the scrap heap. He tells Eddie excitedly about his favourite - the heavily dented spaceman - and his enemy, an alien with three legs. The battles they have are awesome and they always speak to Harry when he’s sad. 

Eddie’s heart breaks anew. 

“Did they speak to you, Harry? Your new parents?” Harry scowls. 

“Don’t call them that. They aren’t nice enough to be my mummy and daddy.” He says firmly. 

“That’s not good, how were they not nice?” Thankfully, Harry is too young to pick up on his use of ‘were'. 

“Well,” he hesitates, “You promise you won’t tell anyone?” Eddie swallows but nods, preparing for the worst. “They hit me a bit. I’m always hungry too. And sometimes I think they forget about me in my room and so I stay in there for ages. But it’s okay because my friends would always speak to me.” Harry cheers up at the thought of his toys. 

Eddie closes his eyes briefly. How can this child who has been through so much still find ways to be happy? It's beyond belief. Venom has to disable his tear ducts so he doesn’t cry in front of little Harry. 

“I promise I’ll never do any of those things to you, Harry. They were mean and nasty to not feed you,” Eddie declares, voice wobbling only slightly. Harry nods, oddly solemn for a five-year-old. It makes sense, Eddie supposes, when you consider the things he’s been through.

Eddie asks Harry to tell him more about his toys while he internally runs through what to do now. Harry happily complies. 

First, they have to prove Harry’s guardians are unfit for parenting. Easy enough, given the plentiful evidence in the form of Harry. This would allow Eddie to become his replacement guardian. He’d have to pass some checks, of course, and there’s the question of whether they’d be able to stay in this house still. Fuck, they could easily kick them out and strip Harry of this mysterious ‘protection.’ And what about raising Harry? They’d have to have a more stable income, that’s for sure. Shit.

 **We’ve bitten off more than we can chew, Eddie,** Venom says, not fully grasping the gravity of the situation given his excitement about managing to correctly use this human turn of phrase. Eddie nods, his mind far away. He lets Harry's adorable babbling soothe his unease. He really wants to give this innocent, deserving, child a fresh start with love in his life. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! Let me know if you loved it or if you have an improvement. 
> 
> Darkoraclegirl, I hope this ticks your boxes. Your prompt really piqued my interest, leading to this runaway train of a fic.
> 
> Edit: Thank you to all those who have left comments already, I love reading them x
> 
> Love,  
> DefinitelyNotBees x


End file.
